WILMINGTON — A Sabina couple has asked a court to order a temporary stop to construction of a section of bike trail until a property dispute is cleared up.
Larry D. and Bertha F. Fair of Hulse Street filed a complaint this week in Clinton County Common Pleas Court, naming as defendants the Clinton County Parks District, Ohio Department of Transportation, Clinton County Trails Coalition, Clinton County Board of Commissioners, and Foill Incorporated (the project contractor).
Construction of the multi-use trail officially started last fall with a groundbreaking ceremony. The 6.9-miles trail will stretch from Melvin Road east of Wilmington to Borum Road in Clinton County, via Sabina.
For the most part, the course of the trail follows an abandoned railroad corridor.
Since June 1973, the Fairs have owned about 29 acres of land in Sabina, according to their written complaint. They allege that defendants “have cleared parts of their disputed property and continue to construct and perform work on the paved trail, encroaching upon the disputed property, without right to do so.”
The Fairs also allege defendants now possess portions of the disputed property without permission or lawful right to do so.
The complaint asks for a judgment to be made ultimately “on the issue of the borders and confines of the disputed property, and to the existence of, and boundaries of, any valid easements affecting the disputed property, so the cloud upon the title” can be resolved.
The court-ordered temporary injunction sought by the Fairs would suspend trail-related work on the disputed property until a final judgment in the case.
Clinton County Assistant Prosecutor Andrew McCoy, who serves as legal counsel for the Clinton County Board of Commissioners, did not immediately respond to a Friday email seeking comment on the case.
The civil action seeks compensatory damages in excess of $25,000 on each applicable count in the complaint.
Lebanon attorney Jason A. Showen represents the Fairs.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768 or on Twitter @GHuffenberger.
